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Because the Jewish nation had forsaken the covenant of
the Lord, walked in its own path, and would not
harken to the Lord’s voice – God proclaimed, through
Jeremiah the prophet, the judgments to come against
Judah. Jeremiah then turned to the Gentiles and
prophesied the judgments to come against their
nations.
Jeremiah 48 tells us that destructions are determined
upon the Gentile nation of Moab. Its cities were to be
made desolate. Its armies would be slaughtered and
destroyed. Verse 11 tells us why:
Moab hath been at ease from his youth, and he hath
settled on his lees. and hath not been emptied from
vessel to vessel, neither had he gone into captivity;
therefore, his taste remained in him, and his scent is not
changed.
1. Change
One thing that you must declare concerning the Gospel
of Jesus Christ: it changes people. What you were
before you met Christ is not what you are after you
have met Him. “If any man be in Christ, he is a new
creature; old things are passed away; behold, all things
are become new” (II Corinthians 5:17).
There is something radically wrong with the person
who claims to know Jesus Christ and has not had any
changes in his life – who still walks after and according
to the things of the flesh and minds the things of the
flesh – because Jesus Christ will change your life. You
cannot be the same person after you have met Him if
you have truly experienced His power in your life.
One of the sad testimonies of the Church is that many
of the people who attend church, take the name of
Christian, and say their prayers faithfully have never
had the change in their lives that Christ effects in a
man.
The basic difference between a Christian and a non-
Christian is that the non-Christian is ruled by his flesh
and by his fleshly desires. In talking about our pre-
Christ experience, Paul the Apostle said:
In times past you walked according to the course of this
world, according to the prince of the power of the air,
the spirit that now works among the children of
disobedience; among whom also we all had our
manner of life in times past in the lusts of our flesh,
fulfilling the desires of the flesh (Ephesians 2:2-3).
A person who hasn’t met Jesus Christ is a person whose
life is dominated by his flesh and fleshly desires. A
person who has come to the Lordship of Jesus Christ is
a person who knows and acknowledges the supremacy
of the Holy Spirit and lives according to the Spirit. The
Bible tells us, “As many as are led by the Spirit of God,
they are the sons of God” (Romans 8:14).
It’s possible to call Jesus “Lord.” It’s possible to have all
the religious vernacular, go to church, sit and listen to
the messages, but never be touched in the deeper area
of your life. You may have the head knowledge. You
may have the spiritual jargon down pat. But if it hasn’t
come into the area of your life where it affects your will
– your religion is vain.
God’s refining process is based on love! He won’t let us
stay settled in the dregs of the flesh. He has something
better for us than the empty, fruitless life we often seek
If you’re not being led by the Spirit of God, you’re not a
son of God. You’re still mastered and dominated by
your flesh and still living after the flesh. The Bible
declares that the mind of the flesh is sin and death, but
the mind of the Spirit is life, peace, and joy in the Holy
Ghost (Romans 8:6).
You can’t go out all week sowing wild oats, then come
to church on Sunday and pray that they’ll never grow.
“Oh, God, kill all the seeds I’ve sowed this week! Don’t
let them grow.” That can’t happen. “Be not deceived,
God is not mocked, for whatever a man soweth, that
shall he also reap” (Galatians 6:7). If you’re living to the
flesh and sowing to the flesh, of the flesh you’re going
to reap corruption.
Jesus was crucified for making this declaration. He
asserted the supremacy of the spiritual over the
material. The people couldn’t handle it, and they finally
put Him to death. Yet it’s true. When Jesus Christ
comes into your life He changes you from the old fleshruled
life to the Spirit-ruled life.
Jesus said, “If any man will come after Me, let him deny
himself” (Matthew 16:24). That’s the very first step.
You’ve got to deny the old life, the old flesh, the desires
of the flesh. Deny “himself” is the very first thing. Many
people have come to Jesus Christ in theory, but they
haven’t yet come to Him in practice. They’re saying,
“Lord, Lord,” but they’re not obedient to the will of the
Father.
2. Purification
The second thing the Gospel of Jesus Christ does to a
person is purification. The Bible says that we are pure
even as He is pure (I John 3:3). God is going to work in
your life to purify you. God wants to bring you into
purity. This purifying work is explained in Jeremiah
48:11, where he is describing the process by which wine
is made. Jeremiah said that Moab had been at ease from
his youth, had settled on his lees, and had never been
poured from vessel to vessel. This was his problem.
Moab had never been disturbed.
When they were making wine, the people would pour
the juice into a vessel. They would allow it to set in that
vessel until it fermented. The sediment, known as lees
or dregs, would settle to the bottom of the vessel. Once
the dregs settled, they would carefully pour the wine
out of that vessel into another vessel, so that the settling
process might again take place. As the dregs sank to the
bottom, the wine makers would pour the liquid back
into another vessel. Back and forth from vessel to
vessel, each time being careful not to pour out the
dregs. They were coming to a pure, clear product of the
vine. This was their method of making excellent wine.
If the people didn’t pour the wine from vessel to vessel
but allowed it to set too long in the collected dregs, the
fermented juice would begin to develop the taste of the
dregs. The wine would become bitter. Then it would
begin to get the smell of the dregs, a rotten smell. It
would also begin to take on the color of the dregs. It’s
tragic when Christians get settled in the things of the
flesh, the flesh walk, the flesh life. At one time in their
Christian walks they were shocked that people could
do such evil things of the flesh. They’d say, “I would
never do that!” After a while, you find them doing the
same things and becoming settled in them.
This impurity actually begins to permeate your whole
life. Your life begins to be colored by the flesh. Your life
begins to smell of the things of the flesh. Your life
begins to just taste of the things of the flesh. Rather than
bringing spiritual refreshment, all you’re talking about
is the latest chatter of what’s happening here, what’s
happening there, this new movie, that new fashion.
Your mind is caught up in the things of the flesh. In
reality, you become no more than a heathen. Jesus said
that you shouldn’t be taking thought about what to eat,
what to drink, or what to wear. He said, “For after all
these things do the Gentiles [the heathen] seek”
(Matthew 6:31-32).
If your life gets caught up in that trip – what shall we
eat, what shall we wear, what new thing to buy, always
interested in the adornment of your body, buying
clothes and keeping up with the fashions, or always in
the eating and drinking crowd, seeking to delight
yourself in the fancy foods, a gourmet – you’re no better
off than the heathen. These things occupy their minds.
They live after the flesh.
It’s tragic when Christians settle down in these kinds of
dregs so much that their lives are colored by it. You
can’t have a spiritual conversation with them. They’re
so interested in some new thing they purchased last
week – “Wait till you see it!” It’s all a flesh trip. Settling
in the dregs of the flesh, they are colored, they are
scented, they are tasting of the things of the flesh. It is a
flesh life, not the life of the Spirit. God wants to purify
us. God wants to clean out those dregs. God has
something better for you than that empty, fruitless life
of the flesh. You need to experience the purifying effect
of the Gospel of Jesus Christ!
It’s tragic that many people who have spent their entire
lives in church or under its influence, attending very
regularly, are still spiritually “babes in Christ.” Paul
calls them “carnal” (I Corinthians 3:1-4). They’ve never
developed in their spiritual walk. They’ve been at ease.
They’ve settled into the dregs. They haven’t been
poured from vessel to vessel.
3. Deliverance
The third thing the Gospel of Jesus Christ does is
deliverance. The power of Jesus Christ can set you free
from the power of the flesh. Some of you today have
become slaves to your fleshly desires. It’s amazing what
a strong grip and hold it can get on your life. The very
first time you tried it, it was just for a kick. You were
just searching for a little diversion.
We have many people in our church who are
alcoholics. How little did they realize the power it
would get on their lives, the grip it would hold over
them. Thank God they know. They know better than to
take again that first drink. They’ve experienced the
delivering power of Jesus Christ. Having been
delivered from the entanglements of the world, don’t be
so foolish as to go back and be entangled again with
that yoke of bondage.
Unless we’re poured from vessel to vessel, our lives
begin to “smell” of the things which we have settled
into!
We have many drug addicts. Maybe the first time they
took a pill was to ease the appetite a bit. Maybe it was
to alleviate some pain or to calm their nerves. But the
drug began to get a hold of them until, finally, they
came under the power of that substance, unable to free
themselves. They found themselves bound in that drug.
How little did so many realize, when they took that
first fix, the hell it was leading them into.
They know now. Thank God for the power of Jesus
Christ to deliver us from the bondage of corruption in
which we found ourselves through our own folly and
foolishness. The power of Jesus Christ can and does
deliver man from the bondage of sin and death.
Today, maybe you find yourself entangled in a
situation where you never thought you’d be. Maybe
today you find yourself caught up in an adulterous
situation. It started off so innocently, just as a little
flirtation. Now, you’re all involved. You never intended
to be, but you opened the door to the flesh, and it took
over. Now that situation is mastering your life. The
Gospel of Jesus Christ can set you free. He can deliver
you. Maybe you’re hooked on drugs, or maybe you
can’t stop drinking. You’ve come to the place where
you need that shot when you get home in the evening.
Then, worse, you need it when you get up in the
morning.
Maybe you have been bound by some desire or lust
that has overwhelmed you and made you its victim.
Moab was in this sad condition, because it had been at
ease. Moab never had any problem, never was in
captivity, never knew what it was all about. It grew up
rather sheltered and protected. It settled into this
condition as a result of no waves, no stirring. Moab had
never been poured from vessel to vessel.
But, you know, God loves you. If you come to that
place in your Christian experience where you start to
relax and settle down into the dregs of the flesh, God’s
love won’t allow you to get by with it. God will upset
your position. Maybe someone who is very dear to us,
someone we’ve come to rely upon, is suddenly taken
away. “Oh, God, why is he gone? What are you doing,
Lord?” He’s now pouring you from vessel to vessel.
Maybe the boss suddenly says, “Hey, we’re going to
transfer you to Spokane.”
“Spokane?” you say. “I don’t know anybody in
Spokane! All my friends are here. My children are in
school here.” A total uprooting – new friends, new
associates, new environment, new schools. You cry out,
“What are you doing God?” He’s causing you to trust
and rely upon Him. God is going to strip you of
whatever has created your ease. Maybe it’s your
retirement, maybe it’s your possessions, maybe it’s your
bank account. You’ve settled at ease in these things,
your lees. But God doesn’t want you to be dominated
by your flesh. God will deliver you from the bondage
of corruption.
God uses disturbances. They are the tools of God to
bring us to Himself, to take away our trust and our
reliance in other things. He doesn’t want us to have job
security, social security or security in man, government,
bank accounts, or ourselves. He wants us to find our
total security in Him. And so He pours us from vessel
to vessel.
“For the mind of the flesh is death, but the mind of the
Spirit is life and peace” (Romans 8:6).
Maybe this knowledge has disturbed some of you.
Praise the Lord! You see, He wants to shake you up
from that little smugness and ease in the flesh that
you’ve fallen into, the trap of trying to find the answer
in the things of the flesh.
We have been created for His pleasure (Revelation
4:11). He can’t enjoy us when we smell of the flesh. He
can’t enjoy us when we taste of the flesh. It is only as we
walk in the Spirit, as we live in the Spirit, as we move in the
Spirit, that we become what God would have us be – a pure
product that He can enjoy.
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